Tuesday, 23 August 2016

ASUU’s warning shot unsettles varsities:

Members of the Academic
Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) sent shockwaves across public
universities in the country recently when they accused the Federal
Government of failing to remit N605billion outstanding Needs Assessment
Intervention as at the third quarter of 2016. Like a war drum that never
sounds in vain, public universities have been disquieted by the union’s
claim that parts of the 2009 ASUU/FGN Agreement have not been
implemented. Some students told Campus Sun that ASUU’s jeremiad
presages an imminent crisis, considering the union’s penchant for
industrial action whenever peaceful negotiation with the Federal
Government collapses. They warned that another round of strike would be
an irredeemable mistake that could provoke unrest in the nation’s ivory
towers. Others maintained that another strike would strangle public
universities and bring afresh the harrowing experiences of the six-month
strike action of 2013, which frustrated many final year students and
increased massive brain drain of seasoned scholars to foreign
universities. Rising from her National Executive Council (NEC)
meeting at the Olabisi Onabanjo University, Ago-Iwoye, ASUU shouted from
the rooftop, warning the nation of the cheerless situation in the
nation’s universities. The union said Nigerian universities are sinking
in financial crisis, with budgetary allocation to education sector
dropping from 11 percent in 2015 to mere eight per cent in 2016.
ASUU President, Prof. Biodun Ogunyemi, accused the Federal Government of
violating the 2009 Agreement with impunity, with a staggering N128
billion arrears in Earned Academic Allowances (EAA) within three years
of the signing of the Memorandum of Understanding. Ogunyemi
explained that several aspects of the 2009 Agreement were yet to be
implemented. He noted that out of the N30 billion disbursed in 2013,
only N13b went into partly settling the claims of academic staff in the
universities. According to him, government’s reluctance to implement the
regime of allowances and other aspects of the 2009 Agreement has
ignited fire of agitation on campus, which could lead to dire
consequences. Ogunyemi ruled out fears of an immediate strike,
stressing that the union would only make such decision after wide
consultation. However, he urged the government to douse the tension,
otherwise ASUU should not be blamed. “What we are doing now is to
tell Nigerians what our members are saying. And they are saying that
they are running out of patience. If their patience gets to the boiling
point and they can no longer contain that, they will tell us what they
do. At this stage, we have only been aggregating and articulating
opinions and feelings of our members,” he added. The union strongly
condemned the shortfall in personnel emoluments of its members, who
render full services in their universities but receive fraction of their
salaries. The lecturers said such an approach was a recipe for disaster
in universities and urged the government to reverse the trend. The
union also condemned the implementation of Treasury Single Account (TSA)
in universities, noting that it has made it difficult for universities
to draw research grant, run programmes based on endowment funds and
transfer funds earmarked for staff development. The lecturers vowed to
resist the continued implementation of TSA in universities. The ASUU
President also decried the infrastructural decay in state universities
in the country, which he said were parts of the issues addressed in the
2009 negotiation and subsequent FG/ASUU Agreement. He said many state
governments have refused to fully implement the provisions of the
agreement. He further explained that some state governments that
failed to fulfill their obligations towards their existing universities
went ahead to establish new ones. Citing Edo, Ondo and Bayelsa states,
he said one common thread that runs through the story of the so- called
world-class universities was their location in communities where the
founding governors came from. According to him, establishing new
universities in their hometowns has become a constitutency project for
these governors. The union urged the National Universities
Commission to stop licensing more state universities, especially where a
state is struggling to fund the existing ones. Ogunyemi said the
adoption of the World Bank/IMF sponsored neo-liberal policy of
privatization and deregulation has brought massive devalue of the naira
to N395 for a dollar. The union advised the government to adopt an
alternative economic system. ASUU also condemned the appointment of
the former Vice Chancellor, University of Ilorin, Prof Ishaq Oloyede as
the Registrar, Joint Admission and Matriculation Board (JAMB),
describing him as anti-democratic. ASUU said its members would not
attend any meeting where Prof Oloyede would be present, warning that his
antecedents towards the union preclude him from heading a unit like
JAMB, where he would interact with ASUU directly or through members of
the union. The union also alleged that the National Pension
Commission’s (PENCOM) erected roadblocks to frustrate the registration
of the Nigerian University Pension Management Company (NUPEMCO).
ASUU further demanded the release of the white papers on the special
visitation exercise to eight federal universities and two polytechnics.
“The committees have completed their work and reports of the
investigation submitted to the Federal Government for upward of eight
months. Our union was very vocal in demanding for investigation into the
atrocities being perpetrated in these universities,” he explained.
Reacting to the development, a 300-level student of Delta State
University, Abraka, Chenube Ejiroghene Emmanuel, pleaded with the
Federal Government to honour the pact with ASUU, noting that an
irretrievable breakdown of the 2009 Agreement would spill forth
immeasurable suffering among students in public universities. He
called for a timely intervention to save the situation before it
snowballs into a major crisis. According to him, the frequent disruption
in academic calendar encourages Nigerian students to seek admission in
universities in neighbouring African countries. From the Northeast,
Adewole Adebusayo, 300 level, University of Maiduguri (UNIMAID), urged
the government not to dismiss ASUU’s grievances with a wave of hand.
According to him, reneging on the agreement entered with the union in
2009 could trigger an industrial action that would subsequently cripple
the university system. Another student of UNIMAID, Amita Jubril,
urged both the Federal Government and ASUU members to return to the
negotiation table for the interest of students in public universities.
She warned that closing the gates of universities could open the doors
of prison, with several undergraduates as convicts. While expressing
her worries, a student of Nnamdi Azikiwe University, Agaezi Utazi,
pleaded with government to address ASUU’s agitation and allocate more
funds to the education sector in order to improve the facilities for
learning. She said adequate remuneration of lecturers and
infrastructural uplift would improve the global ranking of Nigerian
universities. Another student, Ifeoluwa Lawal, explained that the
effect of another strike in universities would be hard to bear and
advise government to hasten up the process of meeting up with ASUU’s
demands and possibly renegotiate. Ifeoluwa, a student of National
Open University of Nigeria (NOUN), said although the lecturers in her
university do not participate in ASUU strike, she feels with sadness the
frustration of students from other public universities that would be
caught in the crossfire if ASUU members eventually return to their
trenches. In his reaction, Prince Onuoha, from the University of
Lagos (UNILAG), said strike would reverse the progress of local
universities, at a time when academic institutions in the world are
waxing stronger in research and development. He warned that strike would
do more harm to universities.